Triton Softball Recap: Tritons Split Two Doubleheaders

The University of Missouri–St. Louis Tritons softball team faced the Saints in a doubleheader at Maryville in the final games of a 10-game road trip on April 4. The Tritons won over the Saints in the opener 5-2, but dropped the closer to the Saints 5-6.

In the doubleheader opener, the Tritons took an early 2-0 lead during the top of the first inning on an RBI double by Serena Olson, sophomore, accounting, which scored Morgan Hill, redshirt freshman, psychology, and Erin Walker, senior, elementary special education. In the third inning, the Tritons added an additional run after a sacrifice fly by Olson drove in Walker.

The Saints got on the board for the first time in the fourth inning, scoring two runs to make the game 3-2. This would be the only time that the Saints would score during the game, however. In the fifth inning, Olson continued to shine for the Tritons, singling to left to score Walker, which gave the Tritons a lead of 4-2. The Tritons scored the final run of the game during the sixth inning after Kaitlin Fraser, junior, biology, reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Alex Stupek, senior, nursing, for a final score of 5-2.

The Tritons continued to show similar impressive performance in the closer of the doubleheader. The Tritons once again pulled ahead of the Saints in the first inning 3-0, on a three-run homerun by Stupek. The Saints, however, fought back in the second inning, scoring two runs at the bottom of the first to come within a point of tying the game.

In the second inning, the Tritons jumped ahead of the Saints 5-2, after an RBI single by Olson scored Ryan Logan, senior, business. The Tritons scored an additional run in the third inning after Stupek scored on a groundout by Rachel Matthies, redshirt junior, criminology and criminal justice.

Despite their strong performance in the first three innings of the closer, the Tritons did not score any more runs for the rest of the game, and the Saints battled back in the fourth and fifth innings to eventually win the game 6-5.

On April 8, the Tritons played a Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) doubleheader at home against the Truman State Bulldogs. The Tritons won the first of the two games against the Bulldogs 5-3, but fell to their opponents 3-9 in the second game.

In game one, Stupek homered to center to give the Tritons an early lead of 1-0. In the third inning, however, the Bulldogs answered with a series of runs, taking a 3-1 lead. In the fifth inning, Walker homered to left field, and Olson scored on a double by Stupek, cutting the Bulldogs’ lead to 3-2. Fortunately, a two-run walk-off homerun by Reagan Osborn, sophomore, nursing, in the eighth and final inning of the opener, secured a win of 5-3 for the Tritons.

In the second game, the Tritons managed to score just three runs against the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs took an early lead of 2-0 in the third inning, but the Tritons answered with a homerun by Logan in the bottom of the third. The Bulldogs, however, continued to pile on the runs in the top of the fourth inning and pulled ahead of the Tritons 6-1. In the bottom of the fourth, the Tritons managed to score an additional run when Olson scored on an RBI single by Sara Kern, senior, business marketing. Despite a homerun by Annie Kroeger, freshman, pre-dental, in the fifth inning, the Tritons were never able to catch up to the Bulldogs, who eventually won the game 9-3.

Following the April 8 doubleheader, the Tritons’ overall record was 26-12 and 8-6 in GLVC play.

The Tritons were set to play against Quincy on April 9. For a recap of the game, visit umsltritons.com.